The field of the present invention is a saddle-type four-wheel vehicle for running on the unleveled ground in which a driver sits on a saddle-type seat astriding thereover as he does on a motorcycle.
In recent years, four-wheel vehicles for running on the unleveled ground which are generally called as buggy cars are being widely used as leasure cars or utility cars. These vehicles, like motorcycles, have a vehicle body frame formed of a pipe material, a rod-like handle and a saddle-type seat. Front and rear wheels for them are each provided with a tire of low pressure and wide width which is generally called as balloon tire. In such buggy cars, in order to prevent a suspension apparatus and a drive apparatus from contacting the ground due to large up and down movements when the cars are running on the unleveled ground, the minimum height on ground of the vehicle body is required to be made as high as possible.
In order to meet with the above requirements, there is known a conventional buggy car as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this buggy car, in order to make the minimum height on ground as high as possible, an upper arm 02 and a lower arm 03 for supporting an axle 01 are formed in V-shapes in side view as shown in the figures, and the axle 01 is supported on the lowest portions of these arms. However, because of a provision of a drive shaft 04, a shock absorber 05 is difficult to be mounted on the lower arm 03 and therefore the shock absorber 05 is disposed between the upper arm 02 and a vehicle body 06 in such a fashion as to extend in the vertical direction. Due to the foregoing arrangement, a mounting portion 07 of an upper end of the shock absorber 05 to a vehicle body becomes high which gives an inconvenience in space layout or a problem in that the center of gravity of the vehicle becomes high since the vehicle body itself becomes high.
Furthermore, in the above-described conventional buggy car, since a drive gear case 08 adapted to transmit power from the engine to the front wheels 01 is disposed right above the rotary axis of the front wheel 01 and on the center in the width direction of the vehicle body, this drive gear case 08 is located on an extension of a handle shaft 09 extending downwardly. Therefore, a steering lever 010 attached to a lower end of the handle shaft 09 is necessarily located at a position higher than the drive gear case 08. Due to the foregoing positional relation, the angle of inclination of a tie rod 011 with respect to the ground becomes large, and the toe interference of tires due to cushion stroke becomes such extent as unable to disregard.
It is an advantage of a buggy car that a driver can enjoy a steering operation by shifting his weight when he turns the car while running on the unleveled ground or rides over an obstacle. In such buggy car, light weight of a vehicle body is desirable since the posture of the vehicle body is controlled by shifting a driver's weight.